Internet protocol Television (IPTV) describes a system where a digital television service is delivered using Internet protocol (IP) over a network. The network used for IPTV may include the public Internet or a private IP network controlled by an IPTV service provider via a broadband connection known as digital subscriber lines (DSL), where a digital subscriber line typically includes conventional telephone lines with copper wire into households. Alternatively, the digital subscriber may be fiber to the premises (FTTP). Telecommunication service provider companies that have begun offering DSL have limited bandwidth resources when delivering video over existing copper wire infrastructures.
Cable companies have developed and begun deploying voice over IP (VoIP) services within telephone company markets. By doing so, their offerings have grown from high-speed data and video services to include voice communication services (i.e., telephone services). By offering bundled services, cable companies can now offer customers the ability to have a common service provider for all three services (i.e., data, video, and telephone) and receive only one bill from the cable provider. In order for the telephone service providers to compete, they must provide customers with an alternative bundling of services, including video services. Today, most telephone access networks provide broadband Internet access by using DSL technology. Because the technology involves connecting copper wire from the central office to the customers, bandwidth is limited based on the distance, interference, and physical bandwidth limitations of copper wire. In order for telephone service providers to offer video over their existing copper wire infrastructures, they must deliver entertainment services, such as IPTV over using existing DSL technology to provide video services. However, even with the use of IPTV technology, bandwidth limitations over copper wire infrastructure still impacts the overall service capability of the telecommunications service provider.
FIG. 1 is an illustration of an exemplary communication system 100 between a service provider 102 and subscribers 104a-104n (collectively 104). Communication from the service provider 102 may be performed over a network 106, such as the Internet or public/private switched telephone network (PSTN), for example. It should be understood that the network 106 may be any network or telecommunications transport network that is capable of communicating data packets. Communication of content, such as video content, is performed using data packets 108a-108n (collectively 108) from the service provider 102 to the subscribers 104. In the case of delivering IPTV, channels are setup by the service provider 102 to allow subscribers to access a particular channel delivering particular content. For example, an IPTV channel may deliver sports content (e.g., ESPN), movie content (e.g. HBO), or other video content. As telecommunication service providers continue to deliver IPTV services, IPTV channels will expand in a similar manner as cable and satellite systems.
In receiving IPTV, each subscriber uses a set top box in conjunction with a television. The set top box operates to receive the data packets 108 being communicated from the service provider 102 and organizes the data packets to display video content on a television. The IPTV set top boxes are configured in a similar manner as those from the early days of conventional cable television that were separate devices from the televisions. As occurred with set top boxes in cable systems, a person watching IPTV may turn off the television when finished watching a television channel or movie, but may leave the set top box turned on. While this was not a significant problem in the cable industry due to having significantly higher bandwidth, it is a problem with DSL delivery systems over copper wire infrastructure for the reasons described above. Specifically, the problem of leaving the IPTV set top box turned on causes the IPTV channel to remain turned on until the user physically turns off the set top box. This continued communication of the IPTV channel causes the video bandwidth to remain active over the DSL access line and could also impact the telecommunications transport network. Because all facets of communication systems, especially those associated with copper lines, have limited bandwidth, continuing to deliver IPTV channels to a subscriber who is no longer watching the channel wastes bandwidth that could otherwise be utilized for the same or other subscribers using IPTV, Internet, or telephone services. Accordingly, there is a need for controlling bandwidth for IPTV systems over DSL lines and other communication systems.